11 Problems That Only Polyglots Have – englishwithmike22.com

Do you know more than one language? Yes, being able to speak more than one language is great most of the time, but sometimes it can cause problems.

Even if you don’t speak all of them perfectly, you’ve probably still encountered some polyglot problems. These are usually more of a funny bother than anything else. People who speak more than one language have problems, and they’ll cry about them if they have to, and sometimes in more than one language!

1. The subtitles make you nervous

Polyglots, like other people, sometimes turn on subtitles when they are watching TV shows. The problems begin when you speak several languages equally well and don’t know what subtitles to use. The choice may depend on your intention: if you just want to chill and have fun, you can choose subtitles in the language that you know the best. On the other hand, if you want to challenge yourself, you can choose subtitles in the language that you still have much to learn, turning watching a TV show into a language learning session. Both ways are okay, after all.

2. People try to test you in various languages

“You’re saying that you know many languages? Well, can you say “I love you” in — and there goes one of the languages that you say you know? It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? After a lot of practice and hard work, your knowledge serves as some sort of parlor trick to entertain your guests and friends. You didn’t learn all that only to show off, particularly considering that your listeners won’t be able to tell a true polyglot from a pretender. Well, life is tough and polyglots usually get used to this kind of nuisance. After all, there’s nothing wrong with a little showoff.

3. Poor translations make you mad

So you are watching a TV show, and you turn on the subtitles. After 10 minutes, you notice that the captions are imprecise and that they omit some important details of what has been said on the screen, and sometimes the translation is simply wrong. And you realize that your understanding of the language may be better than you thought. If you are good at more than one language, silly mistakes in translation can really drive you crazy. The world is not perfect, and neither are translations. There’s not much to be done.

4. Sometimes people talk to you only because you speak their language

Sometimes, speaking a certain language can feel like an open invitation for conversation, whether you want it or not. People may start chatting with you just because you are the only person in the room they share a common language with. This can be a little overwhelming, especially when you’re looking for some quiet or privacy. It’s as if your language skills become a beacon for social interaction, attracting others who find comfort and familiarity in the shared language. While it’s great to connect, at times it can also feel like a bit too much, particularly when you’re seeking solitude or just a break from being social.

5. The subtitles make you nervous

6. You know the word in a foreign language but don’t know it in your native one

When you are determined to achieve fluency in a second language, you learn everything you can put your hands on. You may acquire a vast vocabulary in the other languages that you have studied, sometimes even knowing words for things you have never learned in your native language. It’s a bit ironic when you know the name of an object or a concept in multiple languages but discover that you don’t know its name in your mother tongue.

7. You speak with somebody in the language that you’d like to practice, and they answer you in English

It feels a little bit embarrassing, since you are not sure if they switched to English because it’s more convenient for them or because your target language is so bad that they decided to help you out. Anyway, it feels like your expectations for a tasty conversation and good practice in your target language were failed.

8. People talk about you in their native language, thinking that you don’t understand

When you know multiple languages, you might find yourself in situations where people talk about you in their native language, thinking you don’t understand. This can be a strange and sometimes amusing experience. Imagine sitting in a café or walking down the street, and you overhear a conversation in a language you know, but the speakers assume you don’t. You might catch a few words or the whole discussion about you. It’s a moment that can make you smile or feel awkward, depending on what they’re saying. It also gives you a unique insight into how openly people express themselves when they think no one else understands them. Sometimes, you might be tempted to reveal that you understood everything by responding in their language. Keep in mind that it may be embarrassing for the people who were talking. Other times, you might just keep it to yourself, smirk and enjoy the secret knowledge. These moments can be eye-opening, showing how language barriers create virtual bubbles of privacy in public spaces – and how unreliable those bubbles can be.

9. As you switch between languages, you also flip between different versions of your personality

Many polyglots report that they develop different personalities in different languages. In one language, you are, let’s say, more rational and pedantic; in another, you are more playful and funny; yet in another, you switch into a more assertive and straight-to-the-point mode. Polyglots flip between personalities, sometimes unaware of that. If you notice that something of the kind happens to you, you’re not going crazy; this phenomenon is well-known, and there’s a bulk of research about it. It’s probably an organic part of knowing multiple languages.

10. Being in multilingual environment can be stressful

When you find yourself at a cocktail party where people speak many languages, you can be overwhelmed because you hear and understand several languages simultaneously, and your brain gets confused and can’t focus on any single language. People who are monolingual do not experience this issue because their brain is naturally focused on the single language they know. The solution, however, is simple, and it’s, as usual, about managing your attention: concentrate of your strongest language, start speaking it, and your brain will automatically filter out other languages.

11. You learn to accept imperfection (not to say mediocrity).

Very few polygots seem to be able to master all their languages to near-native fluency. And still, usually, this is a single-digit number of languages. Most polyglots, however, achieve very high proficiency in one or two languages; they are “pretty good” in several others, “conversational” in several more, and so on. As you learn many languages, you have to accept that you’re not going to be equally good at all of them. You learn to develop realistic expectations and realize that maintaining an equal level of proficiency across many languages can be challenging and unworthy of the effort it requires.

Even if you are not a polyglot, I hope this article gave you some insight into the world of polyglots and some idea about what sort of “problems” they deal with. Maybe you’ll be able to gain some useful tips from this otherwise merely entertaining article. For example, if your native language is not English but some more or less exotic one (take anything you like, for example, from Swahili to Cantonese and from Estonian to Tagalog), maybe now you’ll be more careful when talking about other people in your native language. What if one of them is a polyglot? Another idea that could be taken as a word of advice, is that it is normal to be less-than-perfect or even mediocre in the language that you are learning. Mistakes are inevitable part of learning and you should not be anxious about them.